


Paced

by Lacertae



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Babies, Digital Art, Domestic Fluff, Family, Family Fluff, Fanart, Giftstuck, Giftstuck 2013, Grubs, Kissing, Light Angst, M/M, Post-Sburb/Sgrub, fic with art
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-22
Updated: 2013-12-22
Packaged: 2018-01-05 11:31:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1093398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lacertae/pseuds/Lacertae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>*Dave/Karkat* A small window in the lives of Dave and Karkat post Sgrub/Sburb, written for GiftStuck 2013 for user Assumare.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Paced

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Assumare](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Assumare/gifts).



> I hope you like this! I'm sorry I couldn't really put porn inside this, though. It just didn't fit. ^^;

**Paced**

**\---**

 

The sitting room was empty when Karkat shuffled inside, straining under the weight of the bags he was carrying.

He only had enough presence of mind to close the door with a foot before unceremoniously dumping everything he was holding on the floor, watching with satisfaction as most of the content of the bags slipped out and rolled around as he clenched and unclenched his hands, trying to get some feeling back into them.

The metro had been full to the brim, every seat occupied by loud people as usual, and the bags had been heavy, cutting into his hands without mercy as he vainly tried to find enough space to place them down and rest.

No such luck.

Still, there was enough stuff there to last them a while, which was ok since neither he nor Dave had much time for groceries, and unless he’d forgotten something vital –like the last time he’d allowed Dave to go out to buy primary necessities for the house– they wouldn’t need to think about anything for the whole weekend.

With a grunt, he straightened his back, feeling it pop twice, then wiggled out of his shoes and bent down to grab one of the bags, the one with the food that went into the fridge.

“Dave?” he called out, walking into the kitchen and looking around.

There was nobody in there, except for the cat lounging on the cupboard, showing his soft belly to Karkat for some scratching, so he busied himself with putting away some of the groceries before indulging the cat with some caresses.

When he’d emptied the bag, not wanting to leave the rest in front of the door in case Dave was out, the troll shuffled back into the sitting room and grabbed the rest of his shopping bags. Some of the things went into the bathroom, some others in the cleaning cupboard, and soon enough everything was put away, and still the house was horribly silent.

Karkat walked across the corridor, ears ringing and lips parched, and peered into their respite block; the room was empty, though the bed was made and the floor around the recuperacoon was clean, and Karkat shook his head.

The nursery door was slightly ajar, and the troll’s pace slowed down as he reached the handle, hesitating for a split second before pushing it open and peering inside.

Dave was standing next to the crib, his back to the door and to Karkat, and did not seem to have heard the troll, head tilted downwards.

If Karkat closed his eyes, he would be able to picture the way Dave’s face scrunched up in thought, eyes lost in the distance with one hand abandoned inside the crib, a smaller, chubby one curled around his index, trapping him there as its owner slept soundly, a crown of golden hair pressed delicately against satin sheets.

It wasn’t an unusual sight.

He slipped inside the room, stopping for a brief moment to gaze at the smaller recuperacoon situated closer to the door, the surface of the green goo ripping with bubbles every few seconds, signalling that the little grub inside was sleeping peacefully.

Karkat swallowed, then moved to Dave’s side.

As he’d expected, Dave’s finger was trapped in a loose grip, though Karkat knew by experience that even the lightest contact felt like a steely grip, a glance at the weird little wriggly human baby enough to make Dave forget where he was.

One hand delicately pressing between his shoulders was enough to shake Dave out of his thoughts, and he turned his head around to meet Karkat’s soft gaze.

“Didn’t hear you coming in,” Dave spoke, voice slightly raspy. He smiled, a quick upturn of his lips, and his eyes turned slightly brighter. “Did you get me some AJ?”

“I got you the biggest bottle I could find,” Karkat replied easily, smirking at him. “How’s he fairing?”

“He finally fell asleep after I rapped him the entirety of Little Red Riding Hood swappin’ all the reds with oranges,” Dave carefully extracted his finger from the sleeping baby’s grip. “You have _no_ idea”.

He turned around fully, looking up and leaning forwards to receive a soft, quick kiss from the troll, who smiled and tugged him away from the crib.

The baby, delicate and small, sneezed softly but did not wake up; Karkat thanked whatever Gods existed in the universe for this little miracle, as the size of the bags under Dave’s eyes were now comparable to his own.

Dave massaged his forehead, pushing his shades on top of his head and rubbing his eyes slowly. He looked tired. “Babies are a handful,” he seriously declared.

“That’s why I said being a human is impractical,” Karkat replied, leading Dave out of the room. “They depend too much on the adults, unlike troll offspring”.

They both stopped only a second to look at the recuperacoon, just to make extra sure the grub was ok, then left; thankfully, grubs didn’t need much attention to begin with –evolution was more on the trolls’ side than the humans’.

“You just like to gloat about how Kankri’s behaving better,” was Dave’s muttered complaint as he let Karkat tug him to the kitchen. “Just wait until he starts talking, then you’ll see who’s gonna gloat”.

His only answer was a soft snort.

Dave looked down at Karkat’s hand holding his own as they walked across the apartment, the warmth that seemed to penetrate through his cold fingers from where the troll was holding him, and he took a deep breath, enjoying the casual touch.

“Kanaya called while you were out,” he told the troll as Karkat busied himself with putting a pan onto the stove, filling it with water for their lunch. “Said that if she wants to talk to you about the meeting for next week”.

Karkat answered with a soft chirp, and Dave smiled, opening the fridge to grab the leftover sauce John had sent over before noticing the conspicuous bottle of AJ cooling next to the milk, humming in happiness before taking a swig directly from it.

“We’re getting ready for the grubs reassignment,” Karkat told him, leaning against the counter and looking at Dave with wrinkles of worries on his forehead. “There might be some that will definitely be on the culling list, so we’re keeping an eye out”.

Dave nodded.

The inner workings of the new universe weren’t entirely clear to him yet, even if they had been living there for around a year, and every mention of Karkat’s job at the Rehab centre always made him feel like there was too much to do, and not enough time.

They had won.

The last battle to get out of the game had been fierce, and had required enough sacrifices that for a long while afterwards, it had not felt like a victory at all.

As the victory was gained in a void session, for a long moment the outcome of Karkat’s own session had been unclear, pending between vanishing into thin air or being realized through the humans’ SBURB game.

Since technically their victory had been nullified by another game session, their prize had merged together with the alpha kids’ one, creating a mixed society based on the closeness between the planet of the trolls and that of the humans.

The beta trolls were dead, but since their own scratch linked together all the different sessions, the original set of players had been transplanted into the new universe, reversed to the point in time Karkat had created them through ectobiology.

And much to the beta kids’ dismay, the alpha group –Dirk, Jane, Jake and Roxy– had received the same treatment.

In a mixed universe where SBURB –and SGRUB– didn’t exist, there were no falling meteors, no Condesce who slowly gained control of Earth, turning it into a wasteland. The victory had defaulted to the previous non-corrupted session, restoring it and fusing it with the trolls’ original world, both undergoing changes due to the merge.

Because of that, Dave had found himself stranded and alone, with records of his previous life but without his guardian around, with a baby who had once been his de-aged Bro.

In similar conditions, the trolls had found themselves scattered across the two planets –some on Alternia, some on Earth, left alone to worry about their lives and those of the younger grubs.

It had taken them many months, but the group of confused, wilful teenagers had found its way together again, through mails and calls and visits, to understand the new world together. Karkat and Kanaya, now free to do things that on their home planet would have earned them a culling, had created an organization to help grubs and youngsters who weren’t seen fit to live, saving them from certain culling and dispatching them with adults or Lusii who would take care of them.

Not long afterwards, Dave had moved in with Karkat in his hive, the four of them together much like a mismatched, but functional, family.

Dave had never seen himself as a family person, often wondering what had Bro seen in him worth taking care of, and had expected to return the favour to little Dirk as a simple obligation.

Things hadn’t gone exactly as he’d expected, because the little kid, in all his 19 pounds, had captured Dave’s heart completely. Dirk, no more his Bro and no more apocalyptic estranged ectosibling, was now just his little bro.

There were times he missed Bro still, times he looked down at the little baby’s face, void of shades, and marvelled in the soft curve of his chin, at how bright those orange eyes were, and thought painfully that this was _it_ –this was the result of a long fight. A bittersweet reward.

There were times he wondered if it would have been better to be turned into a baby himself, to never remember about Sburb.

The sound of Karkat fumbling around with pans and plates in the cupboard was loud, reaching through the recesses of Dave’s brain and calling him back.

He observed the troll clumsily place the pan on the counter, emptying the jar of sauce into it and putting it on the stove too, and smiled to himself.

This domesticity somehow fit him strangely, a bit too tight on the shoulders, a bit too loose on the stomach, but he knew it was just his impression. The way Karkat looked at him, the mix of exasperation and resignation on his face whenever Dave messed up a cycle of the washing machine, the way he always made sure to buy Dave his AJ even without him asking, and how he tugged Dave into a kiss each and every morning, were things Dave would not be able to swap with the mindless, empty lull of being a baby.

He stood up, moving to the stove, and stirred the spaghetti inside, watching them spin and twirl in the hot water. Karkat glanced at him, and their eyes met above a cloud of steam, sharing something wordless and precious as they moved in tandem, getting the table ready and the food in the plates.

“God bless Egbert and his penchant for cooking more than his fair share,” Karkat murmured as he swallowed a mouthful of pasta. “Remind me not to laugh next time he has to bake a cake for Jane”.

With a snort, Dave poked Karkat’s arm, smirking. “You say that every time he sends over some food, but you still do it every time”.

They didn’t talk much –food was almost a religious experience when they had so little time for themselves– and took seconds to finish up all the extra pasta; Dave grimaced as he remembered it was his turn to wash the dishes, muttering under his breath as he did his chore, amusing Karkat who watched him, admiring the view and chuckling when in response to his staring, Dave wiggled his butt provocatively.

“You like my butt,” he stated, winking at the troll. “Sometimes I think you like my butt more than you like me”.

“I wouldn’t know, your human butt is as plush and squeezable as advertised,” Karkat replied, in a mock-thoughtful tone. “Wouldn’t be able to say the same about the rest of you, Dave”.

Dave turned around, pouting. “Well then try my lips instead,” he made a kissy face, exaggerating the puckered lips. “These babies have your name on them”.

“I can testify about the truth of that statement,” there was a predatory flash in the troll’s eyes that made Dave swallow, warmth spreading from his belly as he leaned against the sink, head tilted to the side.

Karkat slid forwards, pressing against Dave’s frame and slipping his arms around the human’s hips and looking down slightly, his nose brushing against Dave’s one. Dave was smiling, and this close Karkat could hear his matesprit’s heart racing in his chest, could see him blushing.

Dave’s hands brushed past Karkat’s shoulders, tugging him even closer, and breathed in the familiar scent of his boyfriend, licking his lips at the familiar feeling of falling that he still got whenever he held him in his arms, no matter how many years he’d been together with Karkat.

They didn’t get much alone time, not with Dirk and Kankri around, but whenever they did, it always felt like they were discovering each other again and again, soft gestures and words spoken in hushed tones, worried that the kids would hear them.

Karkat’s mouth met the skin of Dave’s neck, feeling the pulse under his lips, and kissed the spot gently, eyes closed, before tilting his head to find more spots to kiss. Dave’s hands were shaking as they caressed the base of his neck, then buried themselves in his hair, caressing his scalp and tugging him closer, spurring him on.

Dave gasped, words tumbling out of his mouth to encourage Karkat to continue, fingers finding his horns and holding onto them as the troll pushed more against him. he was trapped between the counter and his lover’s body, and he liked the way Karkat took control, kissing now mixed with nibbling and sucking.

“Hmmm…” Dave let one of his hands travel back down, caressing the expanse of Karkat’s back, feeling the tense muscles and wanting to give him a massage that would turn him into a putty puddle of satisfied troll, but too lost in the feeling of Karkat’s teeth and tongue on him.

“Do you want to… aaah… move this to the bedroom?” his hand moved even lower, caressing the curve of Karkat’s ass, and he felt Karkat push harder against him, aligning their groins together and making Dave falter, feeling the previous warmth turn into liquid heat.

“Fuck, yes,” Karkat groaned, rotating his hips against the growing bulge in Dave’s pants, wanting nothing more than to get those things off as soon as possible…

A sharp, loud sound startled them both, and Karkat pushed away from Dave, growling softly in his throat in response to the piercing cry.

Dave groaned, slumping down on the counter as he recognised the high-pitching cry of Kankri coming from the baby monitor they’d placed in the corner.

Both turned to look at the walkie-talkie. Karkat brushed one hand through his hair, taking a deep breath and licking his lips, wishing he could return them where they were a second earlier.

They shared a look, though neither could muster much annoyance, used to having to interrupt their private time to check on the kids.

Karkat left to check up on Kankri, returning with a chirping grub climbing all over his sweater, looking happily everywhere and sniffing the air.

“I think he was feeling lonely because he woke up and Dirk was sleeping, and it’s a miracle he didn’t wake him up,” he grumbled, picking up Kankri and placing him on the table, where he happily wriggled around, amusing himself with a discarded spoon. “He chewed on my hair when I tried to put him on the floor and refused to let go”.

“It’ll soon be the new health care tip –grub drool: makes your hair shine,” Dave replied in kind, waggling a finger in front of Kankri’s face and watching the grub attach himself to it, chirping happily. “Could be a perfect commentary for my new–”

“Don’t you dare,” Karkat glared at him, and even the little grub expressed his annoyance by chewing on Dave’s finger, making him hastily draw his hand back.

“On a second thought, maybe not,” he rolled his eyes. “Also I prefer Dirk right now, he doesn’t bite my fingers with his non-existent teeth”.

Kankri glanced up at him, expression of stricken grief, and Karkat snorted in amusement as he watched his matesprit rush to grab the little grub and tickle his stomach in an attempt to make the hurt look disappear.

The grub curled up on himself, clicking and waving all his legs around, a soft chirping sound coming from him as Dave continued tickling him, and Karkat looked away.

He didn’t have the human’s innate sense of love for the children of his species, not the closeness with his once ancestor that Dave had with his own, and to be honest, he’d disliked Kankri quite a bit the few times he’d met him in the dreambubbles, but there was a stark contrast between that memory of Kankri and _this_ , and it was unsettling.

He’d never seen Kankri smile, or laugh. Not this openly, this honestly.

This was a grub and it was not his dancestor anymore, and Karkat’s feelings on the matter were just as complicate as Dave’s ones were.

The grub looked up at him, almost as if sensing Karkat was thinking about him, and chirped, curling his mouth into a smile that even Karkat could admit was adorable –and not in the bloodthirsty way.

He watched Dave play with Kankri, lifting the grub up and making him fly like a human airplane.

Growing up in this new universe would mean different experiences for Kankri and the other dancestors, and Karkat almost felt a sliver of envy, but watching Dave’s expression as he played with the grub made that envy disappear.

If he had ended up a grub again, he would have had to give up on Dave, and that would have made Possible Alternative Future him a fucking asshole. And someone to platonically pity.

Acting like his lusus wasn’t one of Karkat’s aspirations for his life, but things changed together with times, and creating a new dimension, a universe with its own rules to go by, certainly made all the difference.

He might not have liked Kankri before, but this new Kankri was, in a way, his legacy. He was slowly starting to understand what Kanaya meant, and why she’d been so sure that creating their organization would be useless if Karkat didn’t join.

“Hey, Kankri, do you want to come with me and wake Dirk up?” he asked, receiving a happy gurgle from the grub, followed by a chirp that almost sounded like a word.

Dave placed Kankri on top of his head, trusting the grub to hold on with his little legs, and they walked back to the kids’ shared bedroom.

With the big corridors and the ample rooms, Dave almost missed the cosy, cluttered small spaces of his old apartment, but they were slowly filling every nook and crevice with baby things and their own stuff, so it wasn’t really that bad. It definitely worked better than living on his own, and being able to wake up to Karkat’s face made all the difference.

Dirk was still sleeping, though he’d shuffled on his back during the nap, one hand peering from behind the blue blanket, and as Dave leaned down to look at his peaceful face, Kankri wriggled down from his head and plopped on the mattress of the crib, chirping and shuffling closer to Dirk until he was standing at his side, smiling and looking down at the other baby with a pleased, happy expression.

Then he flopped down on Dirk’s face, rolling around and purring, and Dirk spluttered, waking up in confusion and with a lapful of grub.

Dave’s eyes widened, expecting Dirk to start sniffling, but true to his previous self, Dirk blinked and observed the happy grub on his lap with interest, orange eyes sparkling with happiness as he slowly extended one chubby arm to awkwardly pet the black mop of hair in front of him.

Later that day, during a skype call with Rose, Dave would strongly deny the lies Karkat had already told Kanaya about the low disgruntled squeal he’d made at the sight.

Rose, of course, didn’t believe him. Dave himself wouldn’t have believed it, honestly. Not with the way Karkat laughed in the back.

Dirk looked up at Karkat and Dave, face settled on a neutral expression, then raised both hands towards Karkat, asking to be picked up; the troll was surprised, as the baby usually preferred Dave, but nonetheless grabbed the littlest Strider and held him awkwardly against his chest.

Despite having had months to get used to do lusus things, acting more like a human parent than a troll, Karkat still held Dirk clumsily, fumbling with him and afraid of letting him fall –unlike a grub, who was resistant enough until pupation, a baby would get hurt, sometimes even badly. Karkat had read up a lot on it, and Kanaya had helpfully given him more tips after Roxy had tipped her high chair enough to fall.

Still, Dirk wanted to be held, and he wasn’t easy to dissuade, not caring one bit what Karkat personally thought about his own handling kids techniques.

He clung to Karkat’s chest, chubby arms grabbing the material of his sweater and holding tightly onto it, and Karkat swallowed his insecurities by pressing one hand against the back of his head, looking up at Dave to find his matesprit chuckling, and Kankri whining to be held up too.

“Kaaah,” Dirk stated, the clearest syllables he’d spoken so far, and Karkat clicked his throat in reply, pleased.

So far, though dirk was still too young to speak, they had managed to have him use different syllables for each of them, Kankri included. Karkat was ‘Kaah’, Dave was ‘Dah’ and Kankri was ‘Kee’.

Karkat had to admit that the process of speaking for humans, though slow and unpractical, was at least amusing and somewhat satisfying, once they started saying the right words.

“Yes, yes, let’s go have a walk with Kee, hmm?” Karkat wobbled out of the bedroom, remembering to grab Dirk’s robot, who had been snoozing in a corner, as they left.

Lil Seb’s eyes flashed open, and instantly both Dirk and Kankri’s attention was on him. While originally Dirk had given the robot to Jane for safekeeping, John had decided that until the babies were old enough, Seb would make himself useful by carrying things from one house to the other, including food and messages.

Dirk seemed to be so fascinated by the little bunny that he was even more withdrawn when it wasn’t around, so John had agreed to leave him around for a bit longer this time, which was a blessing since he tired Dirk out enough to make him sleep for most of the night, though Kankri still woke up needing cuddles anyway.

Sitting on the table near the entrance, Dirk remained quiet as Dave tied his shoes and put on his coat, and Karkat rolled his eyes when Dave placed a cute little hat on top of Kankri’s head to make up for the lack of coats, since grubs of Kankri and Karkat’s colour had a higher internal temperature and didn’t get cold unless under heavy rain or snow.

Kankri chirped happily, waving all his legs and imitating Dirk’s muttered syllables, though with less skill, and then they were out of the house.

***

Unlike Dave’s previous apartment, which had been in the middle of the city and on the highest floor, Karkat’s hive on the planet was in the upper side, comfortably placed in a neighbour that John’s dad would have considered proper and safe, with a small garden surrounding the hive, which was a one-floor building.

Having to get used to living in an actual city with other trolls and plenty of humans, Karkat had found the lack of privacy unsettling, only to realise that things in Earth were a bit different, and there was a moderate protection for mutants like him, dictated by humans’ utter lack of care over what colour of blood the trolls had, and the fact that laws were different due to the mix of species populating the planet.

Feferi was still too young to effectively regulate the law system and change it, but she was coming of age, and soon enough the real changes would begin, so it wouldn’t matter what planets troll lived on. It would be a full-blown revolution.

Of which, Karkat had to admit, he didn’t really want to have anything to do with… at least for the present moment. There was enough to do with the grub and the baby to think about joining the royal guard.

But maybe later.

He wondered if Dave also felt the desire to _do_ something, or if it was just his troll blood burning in his veins, the need to act and spend some of his energy doing something different. It was inside him, like a whispering voice telling him that he needed to shape up again, keep his skills up to par, instinct that he couldn’t very well silence, not since he remembered how Alternia had been before the game.

He glanced over at Dave as they made their way across the street, amusing in their apparent normalcy, taking a walk with two kids in the middle of their residential area.

Dave seemed content, and if his instincts were also twitching, he didn’t let it show. They never spoke about it. Karkat had to admit he was secretly dreading that particular talk, because no matter what his inner instincts said, he still liked this peace.

He’d earned it.

He wanted to _keep_ it.

Trying to keep his turmoil under control, Karkat concentrated on Dirk, who was still in his arms, apparently content with gurgling softly with Lil Seb.

Kankri was tugging on Dave’s hair, chewing on it, lost in his little world.

The sight soothed Karkat’s mind instantly. It wasn’t time yet. They could wait some more.

It was a beautiful afternoon, and it was sunny, and they were adjusting to living a normal life and walking to the local park, and if there was anything ironic in this, Karkat didn’t want to know, either.

They had a lot of years left to worry about fighting, about factions and about changing the rules.

If he could just hold onto this precious bubble of weirdly shaped normality for a bit longer, it would be ok.

“I think we should get Kankri a whistle,” Dave’s voice broke through Karkat’s thoughts, and he looked at him, startled. His flabbergasted expression prompted Dave to continue talking. “I’m serious, man. Kankri loved that shitty loud thing. He might have used it too often, but it could be a way to annoy the neighbours”.

“Dave, we don’t _have_ neighbours anymore after you scared the last of them away by sword practicing in the garden,” Karkat sighed. “Unless some troll moves in, we’re between two empty houses”.

“Oh,” Dave wrinkled his nose in disappointment. “But the people on the other side of the road still spy on us,” he said after a moment of thought. “Maybe I could–”

Karkat’s glare made him reconsider his life choices, so he returned his focus on Kankri, who was trying to slide down his back to chase a bird.

The park was quiet, and the only other people there were a couple trolls sitting close to the small lake and a group of kids playing fetch with a dog.

Dirk, uninterested by basically everything, flopped down on the grass and started fiddling with Lil Seb, while Kankri tried to wriggle his way towards the playing kids, even though they were far older than he was.

Dave observed him quietly, alert, and watched him keep turning towards Dirk as if needing confirmation. Since Dirk didn’t seem to care much, Kankri stopped, now having lost interest in the kids, and focused on a flower in front of him instead, poking it with a leg and watching it sway.

One of the kids noticed Kankri and shifted closer, curiosity stopped only by the sight of Karkat and Dave watching over the grub like hawks. Kankri looked up at him with big eyes, waving his legs, and the kid decided it was worth the risk, glancing up at Dave for permission before sitting down and waving at the grub, who happily waved back.

Dirk seemed to get interested in the situation only then, pouting and waddling on all four until he got close to Kankri, then pushed him back, glaring up at the older kid as if daring him to get closer.

“Don’t mind Dirk,” Dave called out to the confused kid. “He’s just a little jealous”.

It seemed to be the right thing to say, at least to the stranger, because the boy smiled toothily, feeling important in the eyes of the strange bright red grub. For Dirk, of course, that was an entirely different matter.

He turned to look at Dave, pouting, and whined softly, hands fisted against the grass he was sitting on.

“Thought up, little bro, Kankri can have new friends who are not you,” Dave stated, sounding deadpan and practical. “Or do you want to share Jake with him?”

While Dirk obviously couldn’t understand exactly the meaning of Dave’s words, he still recognised the name of his friend, and wrinkled his nose, looking almost guilty. If he wasn’t just a baby of under one year, Dave would almost be sure he _could_ understand.

Well, it was Dirk. The kid had always been a genius, even as Bro.

Dirk looked so disappointed there, with such a cute pout, that Dave leaned forwards and ruffled his hair, earning a soft ‘Dah!’ and a chubby arm swaying his way, which he easily avoided.

Turning around, wanting to show Karkat the cute pout, he found that the troll had fallen asleep, sitting against the side of the bench with his head lolled down against his chest.

Sleepless nights were not strangers in the Strider–Vantas house, and seeing Karkat napping was more of a reward than an inconvenience, so Dave spent a few seconds admiring the relaxed visage of his lover, smiling to himself.

Not wanting to wake him up, Dave shushed the two babies and their temporary playmate, and moved them all a bit on the side, getting involved in their easy, funny games for so long that they would have missed dinner if Kanaya hadn’t called Karkat on his phone, shaking him awake without mercy.

After that, they walked back home, waving goodbye to the kid.

***

“Are they sleepin’?”

Karkat watched Dave on the bed underneath at least three blankets, voice coming out muffled from the way his face was buried in his pillow, and smiled.

He felt a bit guilty for falling asleep on their time out, but he did feel better, slightly more awake, and they always tried to take whatever nap they could when they had the chance to.

After dinner, Kankri’d had a fit because the food had upset his stomach, and while Karkat had left to get a powder for his tummy ache from the medicine cabinet, the grub had thrown up on himself, on Dirk and on the table.

Cleaning had taken a while, and by then both Dirk and Kankri needed a bath, which couldn’t be postponed to the next day, obviously. Dirk didn’t mind water, and waddled into the tub with the skills of a pro, but Kankri absolutely despised getting wet, and to get him clean had been a fight, that Karkat and Dave only won thanks to the help of Lil Seb.

It had been enough to sap the kids of all their remaining energy, though, and both Kankri and Dirk had fallen asleep almost instantly once in their respective beds, snoozing and gurgling soundly.

Karkat had left Seb in the room to keep an eye on them, and when he’d gotten to his bedroom, he’d found Dave slumped on the bed, ready to get some sleep.

Dave shuffled a bit, opening a small, inviting hole in the blankets for Karkat to slip into, and the troll didn’t have to be asked twice, working his way inside the cocoon until he was pressed against Dave’s front, snuggled up with him.

“Hmmnnn–” Dave pressed a sloppy, tired kiss on Karkat’s cheek. “I w’nted to cont’nue where we left off,” he murmured, hands languidly caressing Karkat’s lower back.

“Shut it Dave, you can’t even keep your eyes open,” Karkat batted the wandering hands away, though his own levels of energy were higher, and he actually wanted to get some alone time now that both kids were sleeping.

Still, Dave was obviously fighting with sleep, so instead of indulging in some needed tension relief, he massaged Dave’s shoulders, rubbing the remaining tension he could feel away from his matesprit.

“Hmm,” Dave snuggled closer, pressing his face in the crook of Karkat’s neck, and breathed deeply, already losing his personal battle to keep awake. “–‘m sorry…”

Karkat kissed his cheek, then his lips, finding them slack but still as good as always, and smiled against them.

“You can shove your apologies where the sun doesn’t shine,” he replied gruffly. “Now shush and sleep or I’ll make you go if one of the kids wakes up tonight”.

The garbled mutterings he could barely hear didn’t really make sense, so he settled for holding Dave close, relishing in their closeness.

He was pretty sure Dave had said something provocative, but it was better to not bait him.

With Dave asleep in his arms, breathing deeply and sleeping like a stone, and the soft snoring coming from the walkie-talkie, Karkat found himself dozing as well, despite not being submerged into the sopor slime.

The warmth coming from his lover, the blankets surrounding him, the silence… everything was conspiring against Karkat to stay put just a bit more rather than venture outside of the cocoon to get some actual sleep.

He brushed some bangs away from Dave’s forehead and sighed, smiling and snuggling into his unresponsive matesprit’s hold, even as he tried to shuffle out, trying to get reason to win against temporary comfort.

Karkat fell asleep like that, one foot peeking from outside the protective cocoon, face buried in Dave’s hair and a small smile on his lips.

***

Fifty minutes later, Kankri woke up, and Karkat had to go check on him, leaving behind the comforting warmth of the bed to waddle towards the kids’ bedroom.

Such was the life of a substitute human lusus.

The last thought Karkat had before slipping into the sopor, so tired he could barely stand, was that they still had some alone time in the morning.

There was still time.

 


End file.
